First off, you need to order a ton of glow...

First off, you need to order a ton of glow sticks. We ordered 500 bracelet sized ones and 25 6” sticks for
the students to wear around their necks. They can all be bought from Amazon.com.
(http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_toys-and-games?_encoding=UTF8&node=165793011&fieldbrandtextbin=Lumistick) We had 20 students show up so we used only 300 bracelets plus the sticks. The
more students, the more glow sticks and vice versa.
Second, advertise the event and make sure students bring a friend, wear dark clothes and bring a mini
flashlight.
Third, black out all the windows in the spaces you will be using. We bought a roll of black trash bags, cut
them on the sides and used packing tape to secure them to the wall. You may have to do two layers.
Fourth, come up with some games that you know your students will love. We put a glow spin on our
student’s favorite games as well as created our own.
Here is a list of the games and instructions we used during our nonstop event. No particular order.
GlowHunt:
This is a simple scavenger hunt. We used 200 glow sticks for this event. We picked 4 rooms to use, 2 big
rooms and 2 small rooms. We cracked 100 sticks and hid 50 in each of big rooms. We hid the rest (uncracked) in the smaller rooms. We divided our students up in to two teams, (It just so happened that we
had an even amount of boys and girls, so we played boys vs girls.), told them their individual boundaries
and that the first team to bring back 100 cracked and glowing sticks won.
GlowRelay:
Divide students into 4 teams. Pile 150-250 glow sticks in the center of the room. Mark off a good
distance (15-20 feet) from the pile to the group. On “go” a student must run to the center and start
throwing glow sticks to their team. The team must catch the sticks and put them together to make a 50
stick long chain. If any stick is dropped, the stick returns back to the pile and cannot be used. First team
to create their chain wins.
After this event, I let them keep a handful to wear for the rest of the night and gave them about 5
minutes to put them on.
GlowTag:
This is an all vs all game with 3 rounds. Each round lasts 3 minutes. Each student starts with 5 sticks in
their hand. On “Go” students try to tag each other. If the student is tagged, they must give up one stick.
If the student loses all of their sticks, they are out for that round. After time is up, give the students who
got out 2 new sticks to begin the second round. During the second round, if you are tagged, you have to
give up 2 sticks. If you lose your sticks, you’re out. After 3 minutes, end the round and allow the
students who got out to reenter the game and give them 5 new sticks. During the final round, if you are
tagged you must give up 5 sticks. If you lose all your sticks, you’re out. After the third round, the person
with the most sticks wins. Give them a prize or the let them keep all the sticks they won.
GlowShoes:
Have your group form 4 teams and put one team in each corner of the room. Next have each person
take off their shows and place them in one big pile in the center of the room. Mix in about 50 or so glow
sticks into the pile. The object of the game is to get as many shoes and glow sticks as possible during the
timed round. Each team needs to create an order of first through fifth (Or however many is on each
team). On “Go” the first person runs to the center and grabs 1 shoe or 1 glow stick, returns to their team
and places the shoe or glow stick in their personal pile. Once that person has returned, the next person
may run to the pile or run to another team’s pile and steal a shoe or glow stick. Teams may not guard
their piles. Single shoes are worth 5 points, pairs are worth 10 points, single color glow sticks are worth
5 points and pairs of colored glow sticks are worth 10 points. Play as many rounds as you wish. The
winning team gets a prize or they can keep their glow sticks.
GlowPinball:
This is an all vs all game. Each student needs a bowling pin (Cones or cups work well too) and enough
glow sticks to form a square around their pin. Have the students place their pin wherever they want in
your playing field but no one can be closer than 5 feet to a wall. Roll out 3-5 balls (we used the thin play
balls from Walmart). On “Go” students try to knock over each other’s pins by kicking the balls. You can
guard your pin or leave your pin. If you guard your pin, you have to stay at least 2 feet away from it and
you may not lie down or use your hands. This is single elimination. If the players get too spread out or
you’re running short on time, have the players move closer to the center of the room.
GlowDodgeball:
Simple dodge ball but the lights are out. Use the glow sticks to mark the boundaries and the out wall. If
the students don’t have many glow sticks, give them each a hand full and tape and have them tape them
to their shirts. Since it is dark, we used softer balls like the thin ones from Walmart. We also played the
honor system, if you’re hit, be honest and call yourself out. The adults used flashlights to periodically
shine some light on the playing field.
GlowUltimate :
This is ultimate Frisbee. We used a gym because there was too much light outside. We bought a LED lit
Frisbee from Academy (you can use a normal Frisbee with glow sticks taped to the top and bottom). Use
the glow sticks to create boundaries and end zones. Rules are exactly the same but the lights were off
and students wore glow sticks to show where they were. You can make team colors but we just told
them to remember who was on their team to save time. Adults had flashlights to light the field
periodically. We also stressed safety since they would be running in the dark.
GlowBalloon Knock-out:
Each student will need a 2 glow sticks and a balloon. Crack the glow sticks, slide them into the balloon
and blow the balloon up. The game works like dribbling basketball knockout, except each person
bounces their balloon up in the air. Students then try to knock down opponents balloons down without
losing theirs. If your balloon hits the ground you must sit down in your spot. You can get back in the
game if you catch an opponent’s balloon out of the air, causing them to sit down for losing their balloon
as well. Last person standing wins!
GlowCart Races:
You will need to set up orange cones in a 50 foot line. Next, put flashlights turned on underneath each
cone. All teams send 2 players at once and one will sit on a small rolly-cart (or scooter) during race. The
other will hold a rope which is tied to the handle of the rolly-cart.
4 teams will line up at a starting line. 2 players from each team will go simultaneously. One person will
sit on the cart first, the other will pull. If the person on the cart touches the floor with any part of their
body, they must stand up immediately and trade places with their partner. The teams race to the end of
the glowing cones, then each team switches who pulls on the rope and races back to their team. The
team that completes the race and sits down quietly wins!
GlowLight-Thief:
Divide your group into teams. Each team creates a unique team signal with their flashlight. Teams hide
in various rooms. 1 person is “the cop” and 1 person is “the gatekeeper”.
This game is TONS of fun! After each team has decided on their team signal everyone takes off their
glowing items and hides as best as possible. (Remind them that they will get their glow sticks back.)
Once the game begins, “THE COP” will be patrolling around the game area trying to tag anyone they can.
If “THE COP” tags you, then you become a cop as well. Each team must send their fastest, sneakiest
player to get to “THE GATEKEEPER” first. Once there, they are safe and can begin flashing their team’s
signal. Every player that makes it past the cop must stop at the gatekeeper, (it is important to keep the
gatekeeper person far from the flashing signals, in order to prevent players from recognizing each other)
and state which signal they believe is their team. They then run to sit in line behind that person. At the
end of the game, whichever team has the most people in their line wins! (That includes people who
went to the wrong team too!)
FireFly!
Have everyone close their eyes. Quietly select one person to be the “FireFly”. Use whistle, or other loud
device to alert the FireFly. Each person needs a flashlight. No one knows who the FireFly is at first. It’s
kind of like Tag but you don’t know who the “IT” person is. Tell everyone that someone is the FireFly and
if you get tagged by this person you lose, and become another FireFly. Give everyone 60 seconds to hide
(this includes the firefly), but warn them that the person they are hiding with might be the FireFly!
Sound an air horn or siren every 45 seconds, at this sound, the FireFly must turn on their flashlight, wave
it above their head and try to tag people. Once more people get tagged, it starts to look like fireflies
when they all flash their lights! Last person not tagged wins!
GlowHoops Race:
Use 2 large glow necklaces. Form teams of 5 people (ish). Connect both necklaces to make large loop.
Each team begins at a starting line with the person in front holding all of the glow hoops. Each person
must always have both their feet in one glow hoop as they try to cross from the starting line to the
finish. Imagine everything being “hot lava” but stepping inside the glow hoops is safe! The person in the
front places the hoops for everyone to step in, and the person in the back picks them up and passes
them forward with the help of their teammates. First team across the finish line wins!
GlowCapture the Flag:
Teams identified by matching glow bracelets. Must have glow bracelet on to tag someone. Cannot wear
glow bracelet if going after flag. (Wear bracelet, you are defense, no bracelet you are offense).
GlowBlindfold Tag Battle:
You need two students from each team to stand up while everyone else forms giant circle sitting down
around them. One of the students gets blindfolded and is spun 3 times. On “go”, the un-blindfolded
students must yell directions to their teammate in order to tag the blindfolded opponents. Everyone
else sitting down must try to be as loud as possible to distract the players. Whoever tags the other
person on the back first wins!
GlowStick Toss:
Each team lines up side by side in partners. Each partner team shares one glowstick. Create two defined
finish lines behind each partner (think North and South). Partners start close together and pass glow
stick to each other once. Each partner takes a small step back if they catch it. Keep stepping backward if
glowstick is caught. If one player drops it, each person must take 2 BIG steps forward. First team to get
at least 3 partners to reach their finish lines wins! (To make sure even steps are taken, mark the floor
with glow sticks as the next spot to step back to.)